Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of healthcare:
Blame Medicare, not private insurers. Health spending continues to be a concern in America, with projections as high as $4.5 trillion by 2019. But a new study in the journal Health Affairs suggests that we should blame Medicare more than private insurance companies for the spending trend, reports FierceHealthcare.
GSK to buy Chinese drug company. GlaxoSmithKline will buy a Chinese pharmaceutical company for about $70 million, a small deal that reinforces the drug maker’s efforts to expand in important emerging markets, according to the News & Observer.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
U.S. economic horizon brightens. Wall Street economists are ready to ratchet up their economic-growth forecasts for 2011 in light of the tax deal struck by President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans, particularly the surprise one-year reduction in payroll taxes, according to a MarketWatch story in the Columbus Dispatch.
Stem cells are hope for disabled. Adult stem cell companies like Athersys Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio, are giving hope for brain and spinal cord injury cures to the disabled, writes the Disability Rights for the Physically Challenged blog.
On Bill Hawkins’ reading table? Bill Hawkins, chairman and CEO of medical device giant Medtronic, is reading Start Up Nation, by Saul Singer. “This is a truly inspiring book on how nations and their culture can directly influence innovation,” reports FastCompany.
Orexigen wins while rivals lose. Orexigen Therapeutics Inc.’s success in winning the first U.S. panel recommendation for a long-sought prescription diet pill shows the company benefited from earlier difficulties of rivals, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Saying goodbye. Elizabeth Edwards, who as the wife of former Sen. John Edwards gave America an intimate look at a candidate’s marriage by sharing his quest for the 2008 presidential nomination as she struggled with incurable cancer, died Tuesday morning at her home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the New York Times reports. She was 61.
